Personal Chef To Go's Official Blog

Diet

07/23/2014

The Glycemic Index (GI) is a popular and excellent tool for assisting you in determining which foods are best to eat or avoid for managing glucose (blood sugar) levels or for weight loss. As a Type 2 Diabetic focused on weight-loss, I refer to the Glycemic Index often. Think of it as a popularity contest for carbohydrates. Good carbs are more popular, while bad carbs don’t have many friends. The GI is literally a ranking system for carbohydrates on a scale from 0-100, according to how much they raise blood sugar levels after eating.

Foods with a high glycemic index (100 being the highest) are rapidly digested and absorbed. These types of foods are known to mark fluctuations in blood sugar levels. Low GI foods are generally slow to digest and are not absorbed as quickly. They produce gradual rises in blood sugar and insulin levels—they also have proven health benefits too. Low glycemic foods help with glucose levels and weight control because good carbs help control and delay hunger so you feel fuller, longer.

High: 70 and up. Examples in this category include instant and long-grain white rice, certain kinds of brown rice, plain white bread, most potatoes, and watermelon, to name just a few. These are foods you’d want to stay away from, or eat only sparingly and earlier in the day.

Medium: 56 to 69. Examples include sweet corn, bananas, raw pineapple, raisins and certain types of ice cream. Foods in this classification should be eaten in moderation. Use your best judgment, though, as falling into an equivalent GI classification does not mean that two foods are equal in nutritional value as well. Case in point – ice cream. More often than not, you should opt for the fruits and vegetables in this classification.

Medication can be extremely expensive and a diet made up of low glycemic index foods can absolutely slash your medication costs. When you eat better, your body works better—this is based on real science and the unique knowledge that food is medicine.

Don’t know where to start? Let Personal Chef To Go help!

At Personal Chef To Go, the glycemic index is one of many tools that we use to ensure that our entrees are perfectly suited for healthy weight loss. That’s because, almost by default, a low glycemic index diet will include more fresh fruits and vegetables, more fiber, more dairy and more lean protein—all foods that offer essential nutrients, and are more likely to be lower in calories in the first place.

If you’re one of those people who cringe at the idea of having to count calories or track what you’re eating, Personal Chef To Go’s meal plans will be extremely beneficial to you. Our chefs work together to make sure that every bite of delicious food that we deliver follows this proven approach for healthier eating.

Let us assist you in reaching your goals!

For these reasons, we encourage you to give us a try (if you haven’t already) if even for just a few short weeks and here are two easy ways to do it:

Ordering our Dinner Only service (5 meals) is a great way to try us out for a week, and it’s just $69.50 (shipping or delivery costs are calculated separately based on your location). Use coupon code "IntroA" and get an additional 10% off your initial order. We'll even take $10 dollars off each meal delivery if you decide on an Autoship order after your first order.

If you're in the the Richmond, Virginia area, you can pop in to our kitchen in Mechanicsville, Monday through Friday, 10 AM to 6PM and pick up a Grab n' Go meal or two to try out. Right now when you buy any 2 entrees you'll receive $2 off any salad!The offerings change weekly so there's always something healthy and delicious to choose from!

The great thing about our low GI menus is that you do not have to wait until you reach your weight-loss goals to start seeing results. The vast majority of our Autoship subscription members see weight loss results quickly, and have reported being able to reduce blood pressure and diabetes medications. Some have even able to come off of them entirely and are able to maintain healthier weight and a healthier lifestyle with one of our Personal Chef To Go meal plan services!

07/16/2014

One of the best investments in our future is to feed our kids right. The next best investment—feed yourself right. Understanding how eating choices affect health, quality of life and future is analogous to financial planners' simple view of investing—contribute now and you'll reap the benefits long term.

Our "fast food" and hectic lifestyle supports eating on the go but they do not support health. A recent national magazine brought this point to heart. Americans are collectively more than 5 billion pounds overweight with nearly 70% of our population overweight or obese.

Eating for health does not mean driving up to a fast-food window, eating your brown bag meal within minutes, gulping it down while driving and talking on your cell phone, hoping you'll make it to the kids' game on time. Sound familiar? What it does mean is taking the time to plan, prepare, and savor the benefits of your knowledge and investment, and focus on food and the act of eating as a fundamental aspect of well-being.

Planning healthy meals involves a few basic rules that everyone in the family should learn. Considerations should include the amount of time available for meal planning and preparation, family likes and dislikes, and choosing from a variety of foods to meet you and your family's nutritional needs.

The first step in providing healthy meals for you and your family is making the process simple and easy. The days of reading through cookbooks for fresh meal ideas or experimenting with new recipes are foreign to most of us—we are just too busy. The focus should be on the balance and variety of proper nutrients that will support our busy and stressful lifestyles and promote optimal health. This is where we can help!

You can choose from a number of healthy and delicious meal plans to suit your needs Eat like a pampered celebrity at surprisingly reasonable prices with heart healthy meals delivered weekly to your door!

Family Favorites. Each week our chefs create a delicious four entree menu complete with one to two side dishes and whole grain rolls to compliment the main course. Kid-tested and Mom Approved, each weekly menu is always delivered fresh and never frozen and ready in minutes. Who says there is no time to sit down to a great family dinner at home?

Couples On The Go. You can make time for relaxed, gourmet dining at home every night of the week. Plus there is no extensive shopping for groceries that often gets thrown out after they spoil, (yuck) or piles of dirty dishes to clean up.

Busy Singles.Sometimes there just isn't enough time to eat well at home. That's why we created this plan with you in mind. You can relax after a hard day and refuel your body with the finest and freshest meals available. Your busy singles plan keeps you well fed with minimal effort and time. You demand the best and we deliver it without wasting a minute of your precious time.

Lunch and Dinner. Each week we prepare another guilt- free gourmet menu that features three hot lunch entrees, and two composed salads, plus five dinner entrees from our Busy Singles menu. Let our chef’s pamper you with affordable, heart-healthy, lunches and dinners during your busy work week and you’ll wonder how you managed before without us!

Dinner Only.Perfect as a sampler or when you only need a few nights of pampering. Five individually packaged dinners consisting of a single serving of the five weekly entrees from the Couples on the Go menu are included in this package.

Meal planning doesn't have to be overwhelming and something foreign to us or our children. Learning and teaching our children the role food plays in our health, is one of the greatest contributions you can make in their investment for health.

06/25/2014

We live in a super-size society. Fast food portions have grown two to five times their original size in the last 20 years and our own homemade meals aren’t far behind. A result of these larger portions is that obesity rates are on the rise.

Americans are now so conditioned to eating large amounts that most cannot recognize appropriate portions anymore. Brian Wansink, PH.D. illustrates this issue in a study detailed in his book, Mindless Eating. Wansink’s “bottomless soup bowl experiment” looked at what diners would do if their bowl never became empty. During a dining scenario, unsuspecting diners had bowls that used hidden tubing and a clever knowledge of physics to stay partially full. The results of the study showed that diners with a bottomless bowl unknowingly ate 78% more than those with the standard bowl!

Similarly, a study by the American Institute for Cancer Research revealed that 78% of Americans think that the kind of food they choose is more important in managing their weight than the volume of food they consume. Consequently, many trendy diet plans gain popularity because of their policy to allow you to eat limitless amounts of certain types of foods while cutting out others completely; however, most health experts recommend eating smaller portions of a wider variety of foods rather than eliminating foods when dieting.

Confused about portion sizes yourself? Keep these examples of realistic food portions in your mind’s eye to help you choose appropriately:

One serving of milk, yogurt or pudding (1 cup) is about the size of a small fist.

One serving of meat, chicken or fish (3 ounces) is the size of a deck of cards or your palm (not including the fingers).

One serving of pasta, rice, oatmeal, potatoes or cooked vegetables (1/2 cup) is about the size of a hockey puck or one cupped hand.

One serving of cheese (1 ounce) is the size of the end of your thumb.

One serving of butter, oil or margarine (1 teaspoon) is about the size of a stamp or the tip of your pinky.

One serving of salad dressing (2 tablespoons) is about the size of a standard ice cube.s

One serving of raw vegetables (1 cup) is about the size of a baseball or two hands cupped together.

Two teaspoons of regular mayonnaise are about the same size as two dice and equal one fat serving, or about 45 calories.

One small apple is about the same size as a tennis ball and equals one fruit serving, or about 60 calories. The same is true for a medium orange, which is also the size of a tennis ball and about 60 calories.

One and a half to 2 ounces of low-fat hard cheddar cheese are about the same size as three to four dice and equal one protein/dairy serving, or about 110 calories.

Restaurants have begun to recognize the appeal that portion control has for consumers; for example, one popular restaurant chain launched a new meal portion size option that is two thirds the size of their original servings. There are other easy ways to indulge in delicious foods without scrutinizing your plate, too. Pre-portioned entrées such as the fresh and healthy offerings from Personal Chef To Go are a perfect solution!

Since many people feel that they don’t have the time to measure out proper portions, Personal Chef To Go’s delicious and nutritious meal plans have been designed to take the guesswork out of choosing the appropriate portions. Our perfectly portioned variety of freshly prepared food can help to train your eyes and stomach to learn what true servings sizes should be.

Besides being easy, the Personal Chef To Go philosophy works! A University of Illinois study found that women who followed a 1,365-calorie diet in which they ate two packaged entrées a day shed about 5 pounds more in 8 weeks than those who were instructed to follow a diet (with the same number of calories) based on the food pyramid.

Let portion control help you achieve your healthy lifestyle goals by considering these additional tips:

Choose a variety of foods from all of the sections of the Food Guide. For example, the Personal Chef To Go, Healthy Baked Chicken Parmesan when partnered with one cup of fresh berries topped with yogurt, provides servings of Meats and Beans, Fruits, Vegtables, Grains and Milk.

Read labels – often nutrient facts labels are based on a smaller portion than expected, especially for snacks. Measure out the recommended serving into small bags to grab when you have the munchies in order to prevent overindulging by mistake.

Use smaller scoops or serving spoons and a smaller dinner plate. An appropriate portion will look much larger and heartier on a smaller plate.

It may take some practice to become a better judge of serving sizes and portions, especially as you put entire meals together. But the more you practice visualizing the cues, the more control you'll have over portion sizes. Controlling portion sizes also means controlling calories — and that's key to achieving weight-loss goals, if you have them, and smart and healthy weight management.

06/23/2014

You’ve been exercising and getting outdoors regularly, but now it’s summer — and hot. It’s sometimes even dangerously hot and seemingly too hot to go work out or pursue any activity beyond a dark movie theatre or staying cool indooors.

Don’t decide this is the time for a little summer break from fitness or other outdoor activities, experts say, because you may be hurting yourself in the longer term.

It’s important to continue moving over the summer because the effects of exercise are rapidly lost once training stops. In fact, most studies suggest many of the key benefits are lost in four to six weeks of inactivity.

Still, you can’t just ignore the heat because you could wind up with heat stress, heat stroke or other problems. So to keep the heat from melting your workouts, we suggest you:

Exercise smarter, not harder. Work out during the cooler parts of the day, preferably when the sun's radiation is minimal — early in the morning or early in the evening. Decrease exercise intensity and duration at high temperatures or relative humidity. And don’t hesitate to take your exercise inside, to the gym, the mall or anyplace else where you can get in regular physical activity.

Ease in to summer. Allow your body to adapt partially to heat through repeated gradual daily exposures. An increase in the body's circulatory and cooling efficiency, called acclimatization, generally occurs in only four to 14 days.

Dress the part. Wear minimal amounts of clothing to facilitate cooling by evaporation. Remember, it’s not sweating that cools the body; rather, the evaporation of sweat into the atmosphere. Wear lightweight, light-colored clothing in breathable fabrics such as cotton.

Watch The Clock & Team up. If you can, exercise with a friend or family member. It’s safer, and could be more fun. It’s best to avoid the outdoors in the early afternoon (about noon to 3 p.m.) because the sun is usually at its strongest, putting you at higher risk for heat-related illnesses, like heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

Keep these five tips in mind and you'll sail through your summer activities without risking your health!

Below you'll find guidelines of food the diet recommends you eat, along with the number of servings per day. (These servings are based on a 2,000-calorie diet, but you may need to consume more or less than 2,000 calories a day, depending on your activity level. Check with your doctor, or use a calorie calculator for an estimate of your daily calorie needs.)

Grains (7–8 daily servings): Consume seven to eight servings of primarily whole-grain products. Look for the word "whole" — don't assume that any brown-colored "wheat" bread is a great choice. Read further and check the Nutrition Facts label, the list of ingredients, and the fiber content. Look for whole-wheat flour or another whole-grain flour as the first ingredient. Also, seek grain products with 2 or more grams of fiber per serving. Venture out of your comfort zone and try brown and wild rice, barley, bulgur, quinoa, or whole-wheat couscous as your grains.

Examples of one serving of grains include 1 slice of bread, 1 cup of dry cereal, or 1/2 cup cooked cereal, rice, or pasta.

Fruits (4–5 daily servings): Eat four to five servings of fruits every day. Find new ways to add more fruit to your meals: Top salads with sliced strawberries or apples; add raisins or blueberries to oatmeal. Make fruit your daily go-to choice for snacking, too.

A serving of fruit may be 1 small to medium fruit, 10 grapes, 1/2 grapefruit, a small banana, or 2 tablespoons of raisins.

Vegetables (4–5 daily servings): Try to eat four to five veggie servings daily. If you think eating that many vegetables every day is difficult, try adding more vegetables to sandwiches: spinach leaves, green peppers, sliced tomatoes, and sprouts are all excellent sandwich toppers. If you're tired of the bland taste of boiled vegetables, give grilling a chance. Grill zucchini, Portobello mushrooms, eggplant, peppers, and Vidalia onions to really turn up the volume on vegetable flavor.

Lowfat or nonfat dairy (2–3 daily servings): You need two to three servings of lowfat or nonfat dairy. Limit your milk to skim or 1-percent, and primarily eat lowfat yogurt and cheese.

To meet your two-to-three-servings goal, drink two 1-cup servings of skim or 1-percent milk daily. Or, as one serving, have a snack of 8 ounces of lowfat Greek yogurt. Eating 1 ounce of lowfat or nonfat cheese also counts as a serving. To cut the fat even more, use lowfat yogurt instead of sour cream in your recipes.

Lean meats, fish, and poultry (2 or fewer daily servings): Shoot for two or fewer servings of lean meats, fish, and poultry every day, and limit the total to 6 ounces.

Nuts and seeds (4–5 weekly servings): You want four to five servings per week of foods in this category. Yep, that's per week, not per day. Even though nuts and seeds provide good fats (see the upcoming bullet point on healthy fats and oils), they're calorically dense. Try adding small amounts of nuts to your salads or stir-fries to meet your goal of getting four to five servings.

A serving of nuts is about 1/3 of a cup (make sure they're unsalted) or 2 tablespoons of nut butter (like peanut or almond). A healthy serving size of unsalted seeds, such as sunflower seeds, is 2 tablespoons.

Healthy fats (2–3 daily servings): Go for two to three servings per day of healthy fats as part of a hypertension diet. Oils with healthy monounsaturated fats include olive, peanut, and canola oils. Soybean oil and corn oil are higher in polyunsaturated fats, which are good for you, too. Some foods that feature healthy fats are avocados, nuts, olives, seeds, vinaigrette salad dressings, spread margarines, natural nut butters, quick breads made with vegetable oil, and recipes that include the healthy oils listed here.

Check the nutrition facts label to determine the serving size for food products under this umbrella.

Fats and sweets (2 or fewer daily servings — according to the actual serving size): Limit your servings in the fats and sweets category to less than two servings per day. Make sure you actually read the label of whatever goodie you're indulging in so that you only eat one serving instead of five by accident.

Why You Should Eat Personal Chef To Go

All Personal Chef To Go menus are freshly prepared each week with whole and organic grains, fresh vegetables and hormone and antibiotic free meats, arriving at your door fresh, preservative and chemical free, never frozen, never processed.

All of our menus are heart healthy, low on the glycemic index, low to no gluten and have been evaluated by a cardiac rehab dietician and Bon Secours hospital in Richmond, VA as being low to moderate in sodium.

We offer several meal services to meet your needs with weekly and bi-weekly discounts that ship anywhere in the United States!

If you order by midnight on Mondays, you'll be in for delivery the same week!

06/11/2014

Are you often tired at the end of a busy and demanding work day? You’re not alone and the good news is that there are some things you can switch up in your daily routine to have more energy throughout the day.

Most of these options will take some time management, but some of them are super easy and convenient. Remembering to drink more water can be challenging, but it’s free and takes no time at all. You don’t have to fit it into your schedule and that's a huge bonus.

A meal delivery service is perfect busy lifestyles. You’ll be able to eat healthy AND save yourself tons of time throughout the day. If you’re focused on a healthier lifestyle, it’s easy to get discouraged because you might think healthy food tastes like cardboard and you don’t have time to cook real, healthy food at home.

If you’re looking for something fast, delicious and convenient without the hassle of shopping and the grocery store, Personal Chef To Go offers meal delivery service with several meal plan options that can help you successfully lose weight and keep it off for good.

We cook with the freshest ingredients; meats are antibiotic and hormone free, seafood is wild-caught and vegetables and grains are organic whenever possible. Our menus are naturally low to no Gluten and low on the Glycemic Index. We can accommodate most dietary restrictions so you should have no problem finding something to satisfy your taste buds.

Every bite you take follows this proven approach for healthier eating. All of our menus provide 1,100-1,400 calories daily with 40-50% total caloric intake from lean, adequate protein, 20-25% of calories from healthy fats, and 30-35% from complex carbohydrates, and meet DASH Diet and Weight Watchers Points Plus requirements.

We offer weekly meal plan options for Lunch and Dinner as well as options for Families, Busy Singles and Couples On The Go all delivered fresh, never frozen, right to your door no matter where you live in the United States. With meal plan pricing ranging from $69.50 to $129.50 per week, it only takes a few weeks to start seeing results. You don’t have anything to lose, but the fat!

Other ways to get that extra energy boost throughout the day

Eliminate processed foods from your diet. These types of food have almost no nutritional value and cannot possibly fuel your body and keep it energized for very long. A diet full of processed foods just leads to you craving more junk food.

It all comes down to knowing your body and taking care of yourself. If you have a busy schedule, it will be harder to get to bed on time, set aside time to meditate or workout—but drinking more water will help you regain your energy levels—and that’s a completely realistic option for you to try.

If you make this small change, you will see your energy levels steadily increase and your waistline decrease.

Losing weight, time management and food selection are all components of successful weight loss. Depending on your lifestyle, Personal Chef To Go can be a big benefit for yours!

06/04/2014

So when you can’t or aren’t able to eat your Personal Chef To Go meals, are you eating real, whole food as often as you’d like?

Like Chef Gene and Blair, I believe it’s best to eat real, fresh, whole food as often as possible.

The good news is, it doesn’t take as much time or energy as might think.

When I was changing my eating habits a few years ago one of the things that surprised me was how I could make healthy, home cooked meals and snacks in under an hour.

So today I ‘m sharing 7 tips for eating fresh, real, whole food without spending hours in the kitchen:

1. Start teeny.

When I was learning to eat differently one of the biggest things I learned was to set small, achievable goals.

It’s all about making it as easy as possible to make the first step and keep moving forward.

It was so much easier to start with one night a week and build from there.

Making it achievable also means you’re less likely to end up with a fridge full of vegetables that you’ll feel guilty about tossing when they’ve spoiled.

2. Learn some new tricks.

When you’re just getting into cooking real food for yourself, having a little collection of easy recipes that focus on speedy cooking techniques is half the battle.

If a recipe has an ingredients list as long as your arm, or has instructions like ‘simmer for 30 minutes’ it’s best to save them for weekend cooking when you have loads of time.

Look for simple stir frys, hearty salads or one pot meals. If you’re stuck for inspiration there’s a plethora of recipes on the Web to get you started.

3. Play with your food.

Avoid getting stuck in a food rut by swapping different ingredients into your favorite speedy meals.

For example, if you normally make a stir fry with tofu and kale, try it instead with bok choy or broccoli. The same goes for seasonings; if you normally use garlic, try ginger or a new spice instead.

4. Skip the peeling.

I’ve never been a big fan of peeling vegetables. It takes ages and you lose the nutrients close to the skin. Now I usually just rinse or scrub and move on to the next step.

You won’t notice the difference with thin skinned vegetables s like carrots or sweet potatoes. Butternut squash or potatoes get roasted, or baked with the skins on around here. It’s also easier to slip cooked skins off but I usually leave them on because they’re delicious and more nutritious.

5. Try it raw.

I’m hardly a raw foods enthusiast, but I do try to include some raw vegetables and fruits in my diet every day. Not only is this great for absorbing extra enzymes and heat-sensitive vitamins, it’s also much quicker and easier than cooking or steaming.

For example, it takes a fraction of the time to finely slice a bunch of broccoli and toss it in a dressing than it takes to steam it.

Think about finely slicing or grating vegetables and serving them raw. Some of my favorites are raw broccoli, cauliflower and carrots in place of steamed rice with curries or stir frys. I also love finely sliced cabbage or bok choy in salads– which adds great crunch and color.

6. Use what you have.

The ‘real food police’ aren’t going to arrest you because you haven’t prepared everything yourself from scratch. So don’t be afraid to use pre-prepared vegetables when it works for you.

I’m a big fan of things like pre-washed salad leaves and scrubbed potatoes. I usually don’t like paying extra for pre-chopped vegetables, but if it makes sense for you, go for it.

You can also try convenient ingredients as a flavor highlight or sauce. Things like healthy, commercial hummus, pesto, salsa, soy sauce, or curry pastes are good choices.

7. Keep it easy.

I once asked a nutritionist friend her thoughts about frozen vegetables. She said that freezing is probably the best method for preserving vegetables without losing much of the nutrition. In fact, frozen vegetables picked at their best will often have more nutrients than fresh’ vegetables past their prime.

Frozen vegetables make life easier if your schedule is busy because they will sit in the freezer waiting for you. They also save loads of prep time. Compare the time it takes to shell a giant bowl of peas with the time it takes to open the bag and pour them into a pot.

Frozen peas, onion and mirepoix are pantry essentials in our kitchen but you can also consider things like frozen spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, or even a frozen Chinese vegetable mix ready to stir fry in your wok.

04/23/2014

Spring has arrived, and with longer days and warmer weather comes our annual deep cleaning and clearing of our homes and garages plus a new crop of fresh produce and makes Spring the perfect season to “spring clean” your diet as well. It’s time to remove the heavy fall and winter fare and focus on springtime fruits and veggies. In-season produce reaps the most nutritional value so here's what to look for on the produce aisle or at the local farmers' market. Fresh fruits and vegetables abound during the spring, so make room for these five nutritional powerhouses.

Apricots

For a boost of beta-carotene, potassium, vitamin C, and fiber in a sweet 50-calorie bundle, be sure to bring home apricots from the farmers' market or grocery store. The peak season for this fresh fruit is from May to August. Sandwiches, snacks, jams, salsas, and salads will all be just a bit sweeter and delicious with apricots.

Peas

Fresh peas including sugar snap peas, snow peas, and green peas can usually be found year-round but are at their peak from April through July. Like most legumes, peas are low in fat and high in fiber and are a good source of plant protein. Their nutritional profile differs depending on variety, with green peas providing more B vitamins and zinc, while snow and snap peas offer more vitamin C. Peas are perfect as crudités with dips, tossed in salads, and served as a side dish.

Sweet Cherries

Succulent sweet cherries are only available during the late spring and early summer, so make sure to enjoy your fill. Sweet cherries are high in fiber and potassium, while remaining low in calories―just 1 cup of sweet cherries is about 100 calories. The intense color of cherries is due partly to their anthocyanin content. Anthocyanins are a type of plant chemical (phytochemical) that are believed to be high in antioxidant activity. The best cherries are large (an inch or more in diameter), plump, firm, and rich in color and are equally delicious as a snack or dessert.

Dubbed the “food of kings” by Louis XIV of France, asparagus definitely have a royal nutritional profile. Low in fat and high in fiber, these tender stalks are a good source of iron, B vitamins, and vitamin C. Asparagus are at their peak from March through June but can be purchased year-round. Once harvested, asparagus deteriorate rapidly, so place them in cool storage to retain freshness and nutrition. Delicious roasted, grilled, or lightly sautéed in olive oil, these seasonal spears make a tasty addition to any meal.

Strawberries are available year-round in most areas of the country, but their peak season is from April until June. These sweet, juicy berries are nutritional jewels with just 1 cup offering 3.5 grams of fiber and meeting 100% of your daily vitamin C needs. For the best flavor, buy strawberries grown close to home since they are likely to be fresher and suffer less damage in transit. Strawberries should be plump, firm, well shaped, and uniformly colored. A sweet addition to salads, dressings, or even a main meal, strawberries “take the cake” and save your waistline as a light dessert.

03/05/2014

The Glycemic Index (GI) is a popular and excellent tool for assisting you in determining which foods are best to eat or avoid for managing glucose (blood sugar) levels or for weight loss. As a Type 2 Diabetic focused on weight-loss, I refer to the Glycemic Index often. Think of it as a popularity contest for carbohydrates. Good carbs are more popular, while bad carbs don’t have many friends. The GI is literally a ranking system for carbohydrates on a scale from 0-100, according to how much they raise blood sugar levels after eating.

Foods with a high glycemic index (100 being the highest) are rapidly digested and absorbed. These types of foods are known to mark fluctuations in blood sugar levels. Low GI foods are generally slow to digest and are not absorbed as quickly. They produce gradual rises in blood sugar and insulin levels—they also have proven health benefits too. Low glycemic foods help with glucose levels and weight control because good carbs help control and delay hunger so you feel fuller, longer.

High: 70 and up. Examples in this category include instant and long-grain white rice, certain kinds of brown rice, plain white bread, most potatoes, and watermelon, to name just a few. These are foods you’d want to stay away from, or eat only sparingly and earlier in the day.

Medium: 56 to 69. Examples include sweet corn, bananas, raw pineapple, raisins and certain types of ice cream. Foods in this classification should be eaten in moderation. Use your best judgment, though, as falling into an equivalent GI classification does not mean that two foods are equal in nutritional value as well. Case in point – ice cream. More often than not, you should opt for the fruits and vegetables in this classification.

Medication can be extremely expensive and a diet made up of low glycemic index foods can absolutely slash your medication costs. When you eat better, your body works better—this is based on real science and the unique knowledge that food is medicine.

Don’t know where to start? Let us help!

At Personal Chef To Go, the glycemic index is one of many tools that we use to ensure that our entrees are perfectly suited for healthy weight loss. That’s because, almost by default, a low glycemic index diet will include more fresh fruits and vegetables, more fiber, more dairy and more lean protein—all foods that offer essential nutrients, and are more likely to be lower in calories in the first place.

If you’re one of those people who cringe at the idea of having to count calories or track what you’re eating, Personal Chef To Go’s meal plans will be extremely beneficial to you. Our chefs work together to make sure that every bite of delicious food that we deliver follows this proven approach for healthier eating.

Why wait to see results, when you can begin today?

The great thing about our menus is that you do not have to wait until you reach your weight-loss goals to start seeing results. The vast majority of our Autoship program members see weight loss results quickly, and have reported being able to reduce blood pressure and diabetes medications. Some have even able to come off of them entirely and are able to maintain healthier weight and a healthier lifestyle with a Personal Chef To Go meal plan service.

Let us help you reach your goals!

For these reasons, we encourage you to give us a try (if you haven’t already) if even for just a few short weeks. Our Dinner Only service (5 meals) is a great way to try us out for a week, and it’s just $69.50 (shipping or delivery costs are calculated separately based on your location).

01/01/2014

This time of year, people all over the world are thinking about their hopes for the new year. Is that you? And if so, have you started setting real, achievable goals for yourself? Whether it’s buying a house for the first time, quitting smoking, running a marathon (or just running a mile), or growing closer to a friend or family member, according to current research, setting goals can make all the difference in making your dreams a reality.

There is nothing magical about January 1, but for some reason, for many, the New Year is a great opportunity to get a fresh start in working towards those dreams. But what is the best way to make those resolutions stick and to actually achieve your goals in 2014?

We know you’re busy, so we did a little research and found 5 simple tips to increase the likelihood that you will keep your New Year’s resolution.

Tip 1: Develop an action plan.

This is the most simple of the tips, but also the most important, which is why it comes in at number one. Too often, we set lofty goals with the best of intentions, but these goals do not bridge the gap between where we are today, and where we will be when we reach our goals. This is the “how” of the goal that most of us ignore, and for good reason. Finding the answer to how to reach our goals forces us to think about real, actionable, steps that we need to take to make it possible. It forces us to face the reality that the journey to success is not always easy, which can be discouraging.

To counter the fear of what lies ahead, an action plan is critical. Think about the small victories that will get you to where you want to be, step by step. Then, knock off each of these accomplishments one at a time. By eliminating the wide gap of uncertainty between ourselves and our goals for the future, an action plan provides a framework from which we can act out our intentions, in whatever form they may take.

Just as one bad meal won’t make you fat, one good meal won’t make you skinny. The reality of any resolution is that it won’t always go the way you would like it to go. There will be bumps in the road, and that’s not just OK, it’s normal. Successful people understand that they will falter from time to time, but that there is always an opportunity to get back on track. If you think of your life as one big possibility, then each decision you make is a chance to become exactly who you would like to be.

If your goal is to lose weight, and you find that you have overeaten at a given meal, or even throughout the day, you have a choice to make. What possibility will you make a reality? Will you beat yourself up, and possibly even wind up fueling further poor nutritional choices? Or will you acknowledge your failure without shame, and reaffirm your commitment to making better choices in the future? If you pick the latter, you will be one your way to your weight loss goal in no time at all.

Tip 3: Be realistic.

While lofty goals can be a great motivator for change, they also become discouraging if we do not see the progress we expect. If you are not a mountain climber today, it may be a bit of a stretch to resolve to climb Mt. Everest before this time next year. Likewise, if you have a lot of weight to lose, it’s best to be realistic about the time-frame you set out to lose it in.

You might be surprised to know that a weight loss of 1-2 pounds per week is considered healthy, and that for most people, weight loss beyond this level may be simply water weight. Even worse, rapid weight loss results often come in the form of lean mass reduction, instead of what you really want to target, fat. At a rate of 1-2 pounds lost per week, it is realistic to expect that a person who wished to lose 50 pounds would require five months, or more, to do so safely. Lastly, before starting any weight loss regimen, visit your doctor and ask him or her about different weight loss methods, and any concerns you should take into account before beginning.

Tip 4: Make your resolution known.

This one is really simple, and extremely effective. Share your resolution with family members, friends, and coworkers. In doing so, a few things will occur. First, you may find that there are others who have set the same, or similar, goals. These people can help to hold you accountable, and become the motivation that you need to succeed at whatever you’ve set out to achieve.

Secondly, when we share our intent with the world, we can no longer tuck it away in the deep recesses of our brains. Once it’s out, we are much more likely to act out the steps necessary to be successful. An added benefit to this is you just might inspire others by your actions. Having a support network that not only encourages you to stick it out to the end, but also relies upon you for the very same support can be extremely motivating and inspiring.

Tip 5: Make resolutions that fit into your lifestyle.

This tip is often easier said than done, but with a little bit of effort and creativity, nearly any goal can be accomplished if you give yourself enough time. But that’s just it, we don’t all have an abundance of extra time on our hands. In fact, many of us are busy from the moment we wake up in the morning, until the moment we rest our head on our pillows at night.

If this sounds like you, there are solutions out there that you may not have even known existed. For instance, if your New Year’s resolution is to lose a specific amount of weight, and you’ve followed the advice in tip one of creating an action plan, you might be worried that there isn’t enough time in the day to perform each of the necessary steps to prepare the healthy meals that you have included as part of your plan.

Maybe it’s the shopping that you don’t have time for, or maybe you just don't like cooking and know that it will take you hours to prepare the meals you have selected. Whatever the case, there is a solution – Personal Chef To Go. Our refreshing approach to a healthier lifestyle provides not only weight loss but also promotes healthier eating by motivating you with healthy and delicious meals prepared with fresh ingredients, fresh never frozen, right to your door.

Personal Chef To Go customers rest easy knowing that their meals were developed by chefs just as committed to a healthy lifestyle as they are. You simply place their order online, and select the meal plans they wish to receive each week. and with our Autoship option it doesn’t get any easier than that. When it’s time to eat, each meal requires just a few minutes in the microwave and they’re ready to enjoy!